The United Nations Association of the UK has submitted evidence to the BASIC Trident Commission, seeking to address two of the Commission's main questions that it is investigating.
Country Report: Pakistan
Pakistan's first nuclear weapon detonation took place in May 1998, just a few weeks after neighboring country India's first nuclear tests. Pakistan's nuclear weapons are seen as some of the world's most insecure, due to the instability in the region, the threat of terrorism, and the history of clandestine nuclear networks. For years, top Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q.
Media Release: BASIC Trident Commission Paper on UK-France nuclear cooperation: Yes we can, but…
Deeper nuclear cooperation between the UK and France is possible but constrained by a number of factors, including the close relationship between the UK and US, and could lock the two nuclear futures together and prevent unilateral steps towards disarmament, according to a new expert report by French researcher Dr Bruno Tertrais for the BASIC Trident Commission.
Evidence Submitted by Ward Wilson
JUNE 2012
Ward Wilson uses historical accounts to present the argument that nuclear deterrence does not work. In fact, Wilson argues that it has failed a number of times, and some of those failures have come close to war. Wilson writes, “Nuclear weapons are niether as capable of influencing military conflicts nor as effective at political persuasion as was once though. Nuclear deterrence appears to be seriously flawed: it is far more prone to failure than proponents of nuclear weapons would have us believe.”
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Country Report: India
India is a nuclear weapon state, but since it is not party to the NPT, its nuclear weapons program is not under the same regulations nor does the country have the same obligations as the NPT nuclear weapon states. This, coupled with India's relationship with the U.S. and volatile history with neighboring country, Pakistan, which also possesses nuclear weapons, makes India an important country to watch. BASIC monitors India's nuclear weapons program in its Getting to Zero Updates.
BASIC News: May – June 2012
NATO leaders met at their summit in Chicago on May 20-21 to agree on, amongst other things, the text arising from the Deterrence and Defence Posture Review that had been 18 months in process. BASIC has been organizing roundtables around Europe, Moscow and Washington alongside the Arms Control Association, IFSH (Hamburg), and local partners to discuss nuclear-related issues with officials and others to influence the discussion. The DDPR does not close this debate, but rather opens it up over the next few years.
Country Report: Iran
Iran's nuclear enrichment program is under close scrutiny from the international community, but the country's government officials insist that its nuclear program is for peaceful civilian purposes only. BASIC monitor's Iran's nuclear program and international responses to Iran's nuclear activities. Read below for the country report summaries from the Getting to Zero updates in reverse chronological order.